The Space Road Less Traveled
by Scarlett-Whitecross20
Summary: Long trips can often bring on boredom. But only until something comes along to change that.
1. Nothingness

Voltron: The Space Road Less Traveled

Chapter one: Nothingness

The world in which a Paladin resided was merely an ocean of black with the stars acting as the little fishes which remained infinitely frozen in place; frozen in time as it were. Or, at least, that is how it seemed to the bored Black Lion Pilot. Even the shadows being cast over his shoulder were nothing but empty silhouettes of unoccupied space. The silence was deafening, it hadn't been long since they'd resumed their journey for earth once more; after_ 'meeting up with' _Lotor's former generals Zethrid, Ezor; and Axca. Though, in the end, they _did_ have to destroy two of them, Axca had fully placed her feet on the side of good and was now apart of the Voltron Coalition. And, strangely enough, he felt an unfamiliarly positive emotion about it; more than just the satisfaction of gaining another alli. Keith couldn't help but think it went much deeper than that; but just how deep... he hadn't a clue. No sound could be heard; almost as though they'd all gone deaf to any and all sound. Only the occasional, bored sigh from one of his passengers, or over the com from the other lions, reminded them of the latter. And the low blips of the screen in front of him, kept this truth in play. The air was empty... but yet it weighed heavily over him.

_XXXX_

Loneliness meant nothing to the _former_ Black Lion Pilot, as he shifted in the silence of the cargo hold. The covers securely wrapped around, what parts of him were still under them. Though he looked calm... his mind told another story...

_The Former Black Lion pilot remained in darkness; all that was there besides him, was a light on the, almost, invisible horizon that resembled city lights from a far distance. The light was so soft that almost didn't exist at all, but suddenly that light grew in the form of a burst; and he saw a repeat of the nightmare that had left its mark on Keith's face. Shiro suddenly noticed something below him and looked down. His hand was glowing; that glow quickly advancing up his arm a moment later. The immense pain from it made him drop on all fours. Shiro threw his head up in a horrible cry, as he shifted back to sit on his heels; his right arm melting away at the same time..._

Shiro's eyes shot open, as he was instantly upright. The panic in his eyes was unmistakeable if someone were to see it, even in the dim light. As he began to calm down again the blanket that had been draped over his shoulder slid away to expose the metal plating that now formed the shoulder from which his arm once remained. Just the sight of it, was enough to swear he was seeing brief flashes of his former Galran extremity, replacing the empty space at his side for only a couple brief, flashing seconds.

_XXXX_

The cockpit door opened and Shiro came through it. Keith, Krolia, and Cosmo looked up to see him. He had dressed himself and came to join them.

"Morning, Shiro." Keith greeted slowly, a very distinct flatness in his tone.

"Hey." Shiro responded softly, a hint of boredom ringing in his tone as well. "Any luck?" Shiro went on to say.

"No." Keith replied, turning to stare blankly at the screen once again. "We haven't come across anything since we escaped Zethrid and Ezor's ship."

"That's ok..." Shiro told him. "We knew, going into this, that it wasn't going to be easy. We just have to stay strong until we get back to Earth." Suddenly the floor jerked under them and the Black lion rolled off to the left, as if something had rammed right into it. Shiro was shifted off balance and side stepped to the left then the right, dropping to one knee. Because of his missing limb, he couldn't catch himself and stop his fall, and he hit the panel to his right. The corner of the panel jabbing his side on contact. Keith yanked the handles to stabilize his lion.

"Is everyone alright?" Keith asked, peering back, after regaining control. Krolia and Cosmo were leaned up against the left wall behind him, beginning to recover themselves. And Shiro was on the right side. He'd landed in such a way that, his metal stub was up on the panel, the edge of the panel, itself, still digging into his side; and his right knee caught underneath it. And because he was leaned back, he had his left hand braced out and slightly behind him.

"Shiro!" Keith said, quickly jumping from his seat to help him up.

"It's ok." Shiro told him, slightly dazed, as Keith pulled him up by his left arm. "I'm alright... what was that?"

"I'm not sure." Keith admitted, he then turned to the screen. "Guys, what's your status?" He called.

"We're fine." Pidge responded. "What's wrong?"

"We just got hit with something." Keith answered, sitting back down.

"What was it?" Lance asked.

"Not sure. It knocked us loose for a second." Pidge tapped at her screen, when she focused her lion back toward Black.

"There's a lot of space rocks around here." Pidge realized, as her scanners zeroed in on random points in the space around them. "But it's so dark we can't see them very well."

"Any idea where they're coming from?" Keith wondered. Pidge panned her lion's head around, keeping the invisible lens that found the rocks up on the screen. Only slight detections of movement, clearly from different distances away, couldn't truly be seen. Other than dark jagged patches; which likely were the rocks, blocking the stars from view as they floated about the non-gravitational atmosphere. Nothing really stood out to her... until something finally caught her eye.

"There! It looks like a planet. It looks to be still alive, but pieces are coming off of it. It's too dark to tell." The Green Paladin stated. Keith's scanner's finally picked up what Pidge was talking about. The planet looked much like the Blade of Marmora Headquarters only much bigger. It had mountainous points on the top and bottom of it. The middle looked greenish in the dim light that cut it out of the dark skies. The gentle glow of a passing nebula gave them the indication of its size and shape.

"Let's check it out." Keith decided, steering Black toward it; soon followed by the other lions. When they set down on the planet's surface, they all exited their lions. The darkness gave little indication of their whereabouts, and showed little detail of the soil which they now stood on. Their helmets prevented them from finding out whether or not they could breathe the atmosphere. Shining their lights around, they found that they'd landed in a giant clearing surrounded by forests. The ground, that they could see, was spotted with green wisps of grass; though the rest was mainly dirt or sandy earth. Straight ahead of them, the trees funneled into a path that led into the forest. The silence was a dead ringer, but only slightly suspicious.

"Let's take a look around." Keith said. "The lions could use a little time to charge up anyway." They walked a little ways before they came to a cave opening. Pidge and Hunk shone their lights at it. Lance and Keith stood behind them with their bayards drawn; everyone else falling in line behind them. Slowly they strode into the cave; as the lights scanned the floors and up to the ceilings, nothing seemed to jump out at them as important.

"Man, it's so dark around here." Lance commented.

"We're in a cave, Lance." Pidge pointed out bluntly.

"No, I mean even _outside_ the cave. Everything seems so dark." Lance re-emphasized, still peering through his blaster's scope, as they went on. They came to a dead end and everyone stopped, glancing around where they stood. Shiro looked up into the ceiling, when he thought he'd heard a silent scuffling. It was almost too quiet to hear, but somehow he could. No one else seemed to notice it, but Shiro still searched for its origin. Noticing a divot in the rock wall to his left, he turned to place his hand right next to it. As soon as he did two yellow eyes opened, and two seconds later a hissing sound was followed by a strange greenish yellow cloud shooting into his face. Shiro suddenly stepped back in a coughing fit; stunned by this sudden action. Everyone turned their attention on him in hearing this.

"Shiro! What is it?" Keith asked, hurrying to stand in front of him, as he recover from the coughing spell.

"-I don't know." Shiro coughed. "But something was definitely there."

"What was it?" Hunk asked.

"It's too dark to tell." Shiro responded. "All I saw was it's eyes." Just then a chattering noise drew their eyes to the ground as a small rodent like creature scurried down, hopping over Shiro's feet and passed him, over to Allura. Pidge's light fell on it and they could now see its detail. It looked like a chipmunk with a long skinny tail, and a small tuft of hair at the end; much like a lion's tail. The creature's big, triangular ears bore both stripes and spots on them; similar to the ones on its face. It licked its paws and washed its face cutely.

"Aww!" Hunk gushed, kneeling down to it.

"Wait!" Keith said, stopping him short. "It could be dangerous."

"Oh come on, this thing? It's too cute to be dangerous." Hunk reasoned turning back to the creature. The little rodent-like animal sniffed Hunk's fingers and looked around at all of them, then scurried up Allura's leg to her shoulder as the mice often do. It nuzzled her gently and made a slight purring/chattering noise.

"Oh my." The Princess remarked, a bit flattered by the creature tenderness towards her.

"See Keith. This thing's friendly." Hunk stated.

"It is pretty cute." Pidge commented scratching the critter's chin, the little animal seemed to enjoy it by the speedy thumping of its foot and the continued purring. "I think we should keep it as a pet." The Green Paladin suggested. "He'd make a good companion for the space mice."

"Well..." Keith began. He flinched, as he was suddenly being bombarded by Pidge and Hunk's puppy-dog eyes. "Fine." Keith decided, giving in out of frustration. "But keep it away from me." He finished, heading back out of the cave. Once they arrived back at the lions, Keith stopped to look up at them. "Our lions have probably had enough time to rest, we should get going again." The current Black Paladin stated. The Paladins returned to their lions Krolia and Cosmo remaining with Keith. Shiro riding with Pidge, Coran with Allura, and Romelle with Lance. The chipmunk creature still remained on Allura's shoulder peacefully sleeping, Allura glanced tenderly down at it, then forward at the open space ahead.

_XXXX_

It didn't take long for them to get bored once again.

"Nothing but stars and open space." Lance muttered aloud.

Shiro stood over Pidge's shoulder, blankly staring into space on the screen in front of him. His thoughts began thinking about earth; and how it would feel to finally be back there after all this time. Shiro could recall his last day on earth, but somehow it seemed to be drowned out by the events before and after that day. His upper body tensed at the stabbing in his right extremity, but he resisted the urge respond to it. Pushing it aside, he realized that it'd been so long that, he'd almost forgotten what it felt like just to _be_ on earth; and the sights that he beheld there. It seemed like he'd been gone so long, he'd almost forgotten what earth was like altogether, but yet he still knew. Shiro could almost swear he was dreaming, for years he'd wanted to return home but... to finally be able to... it seemed almost impossible. As Shiro thought about this, he stared on still. The once boldly defined lines of the screens grid slowly fuzzed in and out, and he thought he was starting to see doubles for a second.

**Hi guys!! Been a while since I've posted Voltron stories. But I hope you guys enjoy this one! I had actually planned this one a while back, and hadn't gotten it finished til recently. I kept putting it off, but I'm finally deciding to start posting it. Now this story is finished, and there are seven chapters. Kinda short, but I hope it's just as good as the longer ones. **

**Also I'm going to be posting one every Friday, so that it's easier for you guys to know when the next chapter is going to be posted. Hope you guys enjoy this story. Really, _really_ proud of this one!! Enjoy!! Thx!!!**


	2. Chatter!

Chapter two: Chatter?!

The silence was shattered by a thud behind Pidge, and she whipped her head around. Shiro was on the floor, leaning on his right side; his left hand braced to the floor as he started to recover himself, almost as if in slow motion.

"Shiro!" Pidge cried, pulling her lion to a stop. The other four lions pulled up quickly and dodged sharply to avoid hitting her. As soon as her lion stopped she was out of her chair kneeling on the floor next to him as she helped him up again.

"Ugh, Pidge what was that?! You totally cut us off there." Hunk complained when his face appeared on the screen of her lion; but from his screen he saw an empty seat. "Uh,.. Pidge?" He peered around the screen to try and find her.

"Sorry guys." Pidge said, peeking into the camera's view; Shiro's arm draped over her shoulder. "It's just that Shiro suddenly collapsed just now and I needed to-"

"Wait, what?!" Keith interrupted her mid-sentence. "When?"

"Just now." Pidge repeated, re-adjusting her grip on Shiro. "I'm taking him back into my cargo hold to check on him now."

"I'm coming over." Keith decided. "I think I see a space rock we can land on. Just hang tight I'll tow you over there. You stay with Shiro."

"Copy that." The Green Paladin answered disconnecting. Black took up the Green Lion in its mouth and guided it to the asteroid. Once landed, they all headed for the Green Lion.

_XXXX_

Pidge had Shiro sat on a bench in her cargo hold, leaned back against the wall when they entered. Shiro was hunched over, looking a little dazed and emotionless. Keith immediately knelt down in front of him trying to get his attention.

"Shiro. You alright?" He addressed him calmly, but Shiro seemed too out of it to hear him. "Let's get him laid down." He pulled Shiro up and draped his arm over his own shoulder to help him up. Laying him out on the floor, Shiro remained in this dazed, vegetative state. His vision blurred in and out and his hearing did the same. He was suddenly numb to the outside world, apart from the blurred figures that stood in his obscured field of vision. Suddenly his vision blurred back in and remained so, the dazed feeling suddenly fading away. All that was left behind was a light headache, and a sensitivity to even the smallest lights as Shiro sat himself upright.

"Shiro?" Keith shifted back a little, still kneeling at his side. Hearing Keith's voice clearly was a relief, when movement was caught out of the corner of his eye and he shot his head up toward it, only to see nothing there. Keith followed his gaze, also seeing nothing.

"Shiro? What's wrong?" He asked turning his gaze on the Black Paladin again.

"I don't know." Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose and clenched his eyes closed for a second. "I must be imagining things." He went on, running his hand up through his hair and down his neck; slight frustration dripping off his face.

"Maybe we should all stay here to rest for the night." Keith suggested. "I think we're all a little on edge right now... we could use a good rest."

"Yeah, good idea." Shiro nodded slowly. Lance held out a hand to help him up, Shiro took it and pulled himself up.

"Then let's get settled for the night." Keith finished.

_XXXX_

Shiro's eyes finally registered that he was staring at the ceiling. He wasn't sure why he was awake, but when he sat up the room next door exhibited some strange things. Maybe it was the in-distinct chatter, or maybe it was the light peeking under the door that clued him in. But, just the same, he knew there was something happening... something worth checking out. Shiro innocently approached the door, figuring that whatever was on the other side, had to be one of the Paladins or their friends. Little did he know how wrong he was... the light that came to meet him, somehow coming as a gust of wind, was soon followed by the scene that explained the noise that stirred up his curiosity. One with which he was horrified to see... since right before him stood...

"The Galra gladiator arenas!" Shiro breathed, his own voice sending chills up and down his spine, as he uttered those words. Somehow, though, he wasn't in the ring. Instead he was standing on the platform overlooking it, where Zarkon usually stands. Shiro's heart picked up speed, as a hand grabbed his shoulder...

_XXXX_

Keith was abruptly jerked awake by a sudden thud! Though he had been sleeping on his stomach, he was physically fit and mentally disciplined enough to be able to pop himself up; almost jumping to his feet when hearing it. He heard a voice and looked up. The doors of the Black lion's cockpit were still closed the way he'd left it, but he still had this strange feeling. His eyes peered around in the darkness, they eventually found a sleeping Cosmo, snoozing Krolia, and a snoring Coran. He looked to where Shiro usually slept, and found the blanket brushed aside in a chaotic, ruffled mess and the Paladin in question nowhere to be seen. A couple taps like footsteps sounded, and he looked up. Then cautiously, he approached the door himself. Pressing an ear to the door, he could hear Shiro's heavy breaths, and steady mumbling from him. Just then the door slid open, and he saw Shiro standing there with his back to him. He was standing just behind the pilot's chair seemingly staring at something; despite the screen being blank.

"Shiro?" Keith addressed him, as he reached a hand out to place it on Shiro's shoulder.

The former Black Lion pilot turned to see Keith standing there with his arm on his shoulder.

"Are you ok?" Keith asked him, but his voice sounded slightly warbled to the older man for some reason. Shiro's eyes focused past the Red Paladin, seeing the former Galra Emperor wielding the corrupted Black Bayard; a sword drawn from it.

"Zarkon!" Shiro hissed, taking Keith's left shoulder with his left hand and shoving him aside. He then rushed toward Zarkon and sliced through him with his left hand, but he dematerialized and was gone; leaving Shiro gasping in confusion.

"Shiro!" Keith's intensity earned him Shiro's confused glance. "Shiro there's no one there,..." he told him calmly. "It's...just us here." Keith's confusion reflected off his own. One swearing to have seen something, and the other unsure of what the other one had seen. "There's no one there, Shiro." Keith repeated. "Let's just go back to bed."

"Ok." Shiro gave in heading back out of the cockpit. Keith stared after him a moment, looked back at the screen behind him, then followed him back to bed...

_XXXX_

Lance stirred. A chattering sound disrupting his, once, peaceful sleep. Lance slowly peeled his eyes open; all he could see in the darkness were two yellow, almond-shaped eyes. The next thing he knew a greenish cloud burst in his face and he suddenly panicked and coughed violently because of it. A little figure turned and scurried down the bed and away; the only indication of this being the little chattering fading away, with scampering paws. Suddenly he noticed two feet standing near his bed a short distance across the room. His eyes shifted focus from the little figure scampering away on the floor; to follow those feet up to find a familiarly muscular figure with the most recognizable hair cut ever. And even in the dim light, the silvery white hair was clearly cut out of the dark background behind him.

"Shiro? What are you doing here?" Lance yawned, rubbing an eye. The Blue Paladin was startled and completely taken aback when Shiro turned his head toward him. His face held a blank stare, and his hair flipped against his face as he turned quickly to face him. Even more terrifying the Black Paladin's eyes were a solid yellow; which seemed to pull him in. He hadn't even blinked an eye and Shiro was gone again, like he hadn't even been there to begin with. Lance blinked a couple of times in confusion, but then rubbed his eyes and laid down again.

"Whatever." He mumbled to himself, as he snuggled down to go back to sleep.

_XXXX_

Romelle thrust herself up quickly; her nightmares of what her brother, Bandor, looked like before he died, remained still freshly engraved in the back of her mind. And the shriveled, lifeless figure of Patrulious's body inside the pod that sucked away his life-giving quintessence, leaving him an empty shell; both things she wished to forget. Her thoughts were halted by a chattery squeak, and she looked down.

"Oh, hello little friend." She said, to the little chipmunk creature holding her hand down for it to climb on; and once it did she brought it up closer to her face. "I suppose you couldn't sleep either." She told it, as it cleaned its face once again. Then it dropped to all fours and snarled at her, flicking its tail up over its body; a cloudy substance burst from its fluffy tail. Romelle flinched and covered her cough with her other hand. The creature hopped off her hand and scampered away; but to where.. she didn't see. She looked around briefly for the creature, then shrugged it off and rolled over to go back to sleep.

_XXXX_

When Lance's eyes slowly opened once more a figure blurred into view. Lance was surprised by seeing Hunk there staring at him;.. so much so that he jumped and scrambled in the blankets, falling out of bed on the other side landing flat on the cold hard floor.

"Woah, woah, Lance; take it easy it's just me... Hunk." The Yellow Paladin said, holding his hands up to gesture for him to calm down.

"Oh, gosh Hunk why would you do something like that?" Lance groaned, now sitting up. "You nearly gave me a heart attack." Lance pulled the blankets off him and stood up; walking around the bed, to put the blankets back on it.

"Sorry." Hunk shrugged. "I..I was just sleeping, ~ya know,~ in the Yellow lion,- when all of a sudden I heard this really weird chattering noise like: chechechecheche!" Lance looked over at him, inwardly amused by his attempt at doing an impression of the sound he'd heard;.. but at the same time... suspicious of the incident as well.

"Really?" He said, sounding both intrigued and jokingly mocking at the same time.

"Yeah?!" Hunk went on, oblivious to the Blue Paladin's behavior. "And then there was a 'pop!' and 'sss' and there was like-" Hunk's rambling was interrupted by Lance's laughter; his shoulders shook, he was laughing so hard.

"What?!" Hunk asked, curiously raising an eyebrow at him. Lance started to recover, waving a hand at him to not worry about it. "Well then there was this cloud."

"Wait what?" Lance froze, suddenly losing the humorous smirk on his face in hearing this.

"Yeah, it was nasty and I nearly threw up too. But then I heard something run away, and then I thought I was flying or something. Like, my Lion was flying, but I wasn't doing it."

"Huh. Weird." Lance mumbled thoughtfully.

"Why? Did you see something like that?" Hunk wondered, catching on to his troubled expression.

"Something like that." Lance answered, meeting his friend's gaze. "I thought I saw Shiro in my lion last night, but-... something was off about him."

"Like what?" The Yellow Paladin looked slightly worried now.

"I'm not sure, his eyes were glowing and he had this blank look on his face; but then, a second later... he was gone."

"Woah!" Hunk breathed, his face lighting up with both amazement and fear.

"Yeah." Lance agreed. "I'm not sure why but-"

"Lance, are you there?" Allura's voice came over the com of the Red Lion's cockpit. The two looking at each other and then headed to it quickly.

"We're here, Allura." Lance answered, sitting in his chair; still wearing his pajamas. "What's going on?"

"Everyone needs to come see this." The Princess told them simply. Keith's face appeared on the screen next to Allura.

"Guys. You need to come check this out." He said. And Lance and Hunk looked at each other in confusion.

**Hi guys!! What's up!! Sooo excited about this next chapter!! This is where things start to really get interesting, in my opinion!**** Hope you guys agree! Thx!!!**


	3. Seeing Things?

Chapter three: Seeing Things?

A crash shattered the silence over the com. Keith on the screen looked back, and jumped up out of the screen's view. The Yellow and Blue Paladins shared another blank stare, before scrambling back out of the Red Lion's cockpit. Tumbling over the bed once more Lance began to hurriedly dress himself.

"Ok, you go check on Keith in the Black Lion. And I'll go check on Allura." The Blue Paladin instructed.

"Got it." Hunk nodded firmly. Having finished getting his armor on, the two stumbled for the exit.

_XXXX_

"Shiro, what are you doing? No one's here." Keith was saying, as Hunk entered the Black Lion's cargo hold.

"What's going on here?" The Yellow Paladin asked, then he caught a glimpse of Shiro and stopped short.

The former Black Lion pilot fidgeted nervously, his demeanor was anxious, overly alert and clearly agitated. He would mumble something that at times didn't make sense.

"Zarkon... ...s..stay away! Y..you don't deserve- the Black lion!" Shiro gasped, his tone more threatening and constricted than anything. His attention shot to his right, as did his focus, hinted at by the dynamic change in his voice. "You're not gonna get to me witch!" Shiro sneered breathlessly. "You've broken me enough once, you will never get to do it again!"

"Shiro, what are you talking about." Keith questioned, gazing at the places in which Shiro was looking. All he could see was empty space, but to Shiro all his enemies had completely surrounded him. All of them blocking his escape from all sides; and his arm no longer there for him to defend himself.

Hunk and Keith stood there staring at him, both trying to decipher this unusual behavior. As they stood there, Shiro seemed totally unaware of their presence; holding his head in his hand, and mumbling something to himself continuously. Hunk began to feel a bit dizzy himself and subtly stumbled back a couple of steps, reaching a hand up to stabilize himself against the wall. Suddenly his vision slightly blurred and proceeded to slowly spin; like he, himself, were sitting still and everything was revolving around him.

_XXXX_

Lance's feet skidded across the floor, as he burst into the Blue Lion. The Blue Paladin and Red Lion Pilot's eyes were immediately drawn to the floor. Allura was knelt on one knee beside a crying Romelle, who was kneeling with her body fully composed over her legs; which were folded under her, sitting on her ankles. She hands in her lap, and her shoulders jerking from the many uneven sobs abruptly forcing their way from her throat. She then brought her hands to her face and sobbed into them some more, uncontrollably crying like she wasn't ever gonna stop.

"What happened, Allura?" Lance finally asked.

"I don't know." The Princess replied, hauntedly. "She was just suddenly like this. She kept looking around frantically when I found her, but I didn't see anything. And now she's crying, I'm not sure what to do." Lance stared, his confusion of what had happened to him the night before; and the things Allura and Hunk had said, perplexing him further.

"Hey..uh, Lance? What's- your status?" Hunk's voice cracked through the com link in his helmet.

"Not great? Why?" Lance asked, finally jerking himself out of his trance.

"I think there's.. something up with Shiro." The Yellow Paladin responded.

"Hang on, I'll be right there." Lance told him. "Come on, let's get her to the Black Lion." He said, turning to the Princess. Allura pulled Romelle up off the floor and helped her follow Lance, when he suddenly froze just short of the door. "Wait a minute... Where's Pidge?"

_XXXX_

The Green Paladin snuggled deeper into the sea of blankets, all that was showing was her light umberish-brown hair and left hand. She lay on her right side, almost on her stomach, peacefully snoozing away. The peace that was in her was mostly generated by the feeling of being home on earth, and the anticipation of seeing her family again. Especially her mom; whom she hadn't seen since she'd left with the other Paladins in the Blue Lion. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she thought of this in her slumber; a smile cracking across her sleeping face. A chattering noise interrupted her peaceful sleep and she slowly peeled her eyes open. She heavily rolled onto her back very slowly, almost as though she were protecting a very tender injury. Her eyes blinked, seemingly, in slow motion as she became aware of her surroundings. She stared at the ceiling, the chattering noise returning and she shifted her head to the right. As soon as she did, two golden slits for eyes stared back at her; and rush of a gassy substance puffed in her face. Nearly choking on it, she thrust herself upright to cover her mouth with both hands. Dropping her hands into her lap she heard another sound; one that was similar to the previous, but clearly different too. Pidge felt a sense of anxiety creep into her; like the clicking noise she'd heard, as it came toward her. Her eyes inconsistently darting around the room searching for the source of the sound.

_XXXX_

Allura and Lance set Romelle against the wall of the Black Lion's cargo hold. Her hands nervously grasped her biceps across her chest, and her knees nearly pulled up to it. Shiro was now pacing back and forth, still agitated, still self-conscious. Hunk had his back pressed to the wall of the cargo hold, his hands up near his face. He was breathing a bit staccato and was muttering stuff to himself; begging himself not to throw up.

"Keith, what's going on?!" Allura asked, searching his face; only finding an equally confused pair of eyes.

"Yeah, Hunk was fine a few minutes ago." Lance agreed looking at Keith as well.

"I don't know." Keith groaned, looking at Shiro, Hunk, and Romelle. "All I know is that something is not right here, and we need to figure out what." He looked at Lance. "Is everyone here?"

"All except Pidge." Lance confirmed, holding his blaster diagonally across his upper body. "Haven't seen or heard anything from her. I'm about to go looking for her." Allura dropped her gaze away from him.

"Of course you would." She said, a hint of bitterness catching him off guard.

"What do you mean? _Of course I would_; she's a part of the team." Lance told her innocently, his expression uncertain and quizzical. Allura just scoffed dryly, half laughing.

"Sure, part of the team." She sighed sarcastically. "And perhaps Kaltinecker is our lookout."

"Allura, what's wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?" Lance asked, struggling to understand where this attitude had come from.

"You think this is my fault?! You think I'm responsible for this?!" Allura snapped getting to her feet.

"No, no, I didn't say that! I-" Lance stammered, backing away as Allura came over to get in his face angrily.

"You were thinking it?! You were suggesting it?! You were going to say it?!?!" Allura shouted, her eyes flaring with rage. "I can't believe that after all we've been through together, you're more concerned about anyone else but me!! And instead you believe that I am to blame for all this!! How could you, who do you think you are?!..."

"No, please, Allura stop!! I don't blame you I swear?! I do care about you, please!!" Lance cried nearly on the edge of crying; trying to defend himself.

"Lance, what are you talking about?" Allura cried, her hands pressing his shoulders to the wall, panic in her eyes. "What is going on with you? Lance!"

"He's starting to act just like them." Keith observed, as Lance continued his blind babbling. The Red Paladin gazed around at the strange behaviors being exhibited around him.

"Keith, what are you thinking?" Krolia asked her son, placing a hand on his shoulder from behind.

"I'm not exactly sure." He admitted, glancing over at her. He looked back at Shiro, still blinded by his oblivion. "But something's not right here."

"Hey guys what's-" Pidge entered the Black Lion with a smile on her face, but froze as soon as she saw the chaos that awaited her.

**Here's the next chapter!! So excited to hear your thoughts!! This story is by far one of the most fun stories to write to date. That and LHBMV(Let Hands Be My Voice) and SOB(Shades Of Black). Hope you guys feel the same.. enjoy!! Thx!!!**


	4. Another Mystery

Chapter four: Another Mystery

"What is going on here?!" Pidge gasped, upon noticing her panicked friends. "Shiro? Lance, what's happening to them?!?!" The Green Paladin searched Allura and Keith's faces; only finding more questions and confusion. Keith turned to face her squarely.

"Where have you been?" He asked her. "We called for everyone and you didn't show up. We were about to go looking for you."

"I was sleeping; like everyone else should've been." Pidge responded dryly. "What is going on with them?"

"We don't know." Allura sighed, dropping her gaze unfortunately. But she managed a slight smile when she looked up again. "But we sure are glad you're here now. Maybe you can help us figure it out." Pidge stared at her curiously for a moment inwardly running ideas through her mind.

"When did this all start?" She asked finally.

"Not sure." Keith replied, thoughtfully wracking his brain. "I would say this morning.. but- I wouldn't know for sure."

"Could this be something that has only just now started to affect them?" Pidge asked, bracing her elbows on the crate she was leaning on; fingers interlocked in front of her face.

"Possibly. But- what could have caused this?" Allura wondered.

"Who was the first to start acting strange?" Pidge returned, holding her position.

"Shiro. Definitely." Keith decided. "I found him in the cockpit of the Black lion, but he was.. acting... different. He was disoriented, saying something about Zarkon being there, but I didn't see anything. I eventually convinced him to finally go back to sleep. Then I woke up this morning and he was like this." Keith motioned to Shiro, who stood leaning against the back wall of the cargo hold on his right side. His head rested on the wall as well, and his hand to his head; the panic he felt holding on still.

"Ok so Shiro was the first." Pidge went on. "Now we need to ask ourselves... what could've caused this sudden change in his demeanor? And how does it connect to everyone else's strange new behaviors?"

"Wait, didn't Shiro start to act a bit strangely after we landed on that broken planet?" Allura recalled. "He seemed a bit on edge when she exited the cave where we found that little creature."

"I believe you're right!" Coran gasped, in realization; inserting himself into the conversation.

"That blast?" Keith thought aloud. He turned to Shiro, and noticed something intriguing. Slowly approaching Shiro, he could see this anomaly better. The tips of Shiro's white floof were ever so slightly pigmented, though the darkness obscured the full extent of it. Keith reached up, with his left arm, to get a better look at the colored hair. Shiro, somehow catching this, reached up to grasp Keith's forearm.

"-Shiro.. it's ok. I'm not gonna hurt you." Keith told him tenderly. Shiro relaxed only slightly and let his hand slip down to Keith's elbow; and Keith noticed the purplish handprint that was left behind.

"Pidge." Keith addressed the Green Paladin, tilting his head back toward her; without breaking his gaze. "Do you have any idea what this is?" The Green Paladin strode up slowly to gaze over his shoulder at what he was talking about. She leaned forward to brace her hands to her knees for a lower elevation; giving her a better view of the handprint on Keith's white armor.

"I'll need a sample that I can analyze for a possible search, but without the Castle's database it'll be tricky." Pidge informed him. She looked up at him. "So it might take a while."

"Then we'll just have to get started." Keith decided simply.

"Start with Shiro." Pidge determined. "Likely _he_ was the first one to be infected. And everyone activate your helmet masks; in case it can be spread atmospherically." Keith lowered his elevation, as his visor went down over his face, hoping to gain Shiro's glance.

"What exactly do we do?" Keith asked, glancing over his shoulder at her again. Pidge thought a moment.

"Well, since he's already touched you, we could use the substance from the hand print on your arm as the sample." The Green Paladin noted. Keith then turned to Allura, Krolia and Coran.

"Allura, keep an eye on the others. We're gonna need some time." He told her.

"Affirmative." The Princess nodded.

"Right, we got this covered. You go on, and do your thing, number five!" Coran agreed waving them off, with his usual confident swagger about him.

"Great!" Keith said. "Pidge, let's go!" The Green Paladin draped a small cloth over Keith's forearm; wrapping it up in it and set his hand on it, to hold it in place.

"So we don't mess up the sample." She told him, reading his mind. Keith shrugged as Pidge took off, then followed suit.

After they'd left, Allura turned her attention to their four panicked and distressed friends.

"Let's try to calm them down, maybe we can get through to them somehow." Allura suggested, openly thinking out loud. "Hm?" A little chatter and a soft touch on her shoulder turned her attention to it. "Oh, hello little friend." The Princess told the little chipmunk creature, scratching it's head with her pointer finger. The creature gave a little sneeze, and scurried around to her other shoulder leaping at Coran. Whipping it's tail up, a green cloud burst in his face.

"Coran!!" Allura cried in horror. Coran coughed and spluttered covering his face with his hands, as the creature caught his clothes and climbed up his shirt to his shoulder. Krolia held her blaster up; waiting for the right moment to shoot when it leapt from Coran's shoulder, as he began to fall. Krolia shot and missed and the creature landed on her hands; nipping her fingers, causing her drop the gun. It climbed further up onto her hands, and released the cloud from its tail once again. Krolia covered her mouth in response to the puff of green, coughing as she fell back as well.

"No!!" Allura exclaimed.

~~~

Pidge took a small round pad, and rubbed it over the purplish hand print on the white surface of Keith's armor. Sticking it in a science disk, she slid it under her microscope.

"It looks like some kind of spore? Or virus?" She glanced over at Keith. "It's hard to tell, but whatever this stuff is, it acts as a neurotoxin that's seems to be causing unwanted hallucinations of their worst fears. Shiro must be experiencing things from his time as a Galra prisoner; which is, likely, his worst fear;.. being imprisoned again and being experimented on."

"Which is why he's been acting so strangely." Keith implied. "He's practically paralyzed by fear."

"Exactly. And I think that's what's happening to the rest of our friends." Pidge finished.

"So why did it turn Shiro's hair purple?" Keith wondered curiously.

"I think the chemical compounds within the substance has a color-changing property, that is affected by what it comes into contact with; which is why it turned Shiro's hair _and _your suit purple when Shiro touched you."

"So what do we do now?" Keith asked.

"Keith! Pidge! What's your status!!" Allura's voice cracked through the com; her distress unhindered by the roughness of the transmission.

"We think we may have something, why?" Keith responded.

"Well, I think I know why everyone's been acting so strangely! And now it's happening to Coran and Krolia!" The Princess gasped. Keith perked up as soon as he heard this.

"Mom?"

_XXXX_

"What's going on?!" Keith demanded, bursting back into the Black lion.

"Keith, watch out!" The Red Paladin was pushed aside as the Princess held up her particle shield to block the creature leaping at them. Allura grabbed Pidge and Keith by the arm, and dragged them into the cockpit; closing the door behind them just in time.

"What was that all about?!" Pidge questioned breathlessly.

"_That_ was our answer." Allura responded simply. "I think that that _creature_ we found has been causing the strange behaviors we've been noticing in our friends."

"How do you know?" Keith asked.

"I just watched it spray both Coran and Krolia, and both of them started acting strangely afterwards." The Princess returned firmly.

"So all this time that _thing_ has been doing this?" Pidge asked, looking away when she thought she'd seen something.

"I think so." The Princess sighed again. "Which means we must get rid of it and figure out how to cure the rest of the team." The brief silence was shattered by Pidge's panicked yell, or was it a scream? It was hard to tell by her type of voice. Keith and Allura looked up to see the Green Paladin retreating out the cockpit door.

"Pidge?" They cried in unison.

**Hey everybody!!! So excited right now, because we're starting to get to the good part of this story! Hope you enjoy!! Thx!!!**


	5. Eradicate!

Chapter five: Eradicate!

As soon as Pidge left they had to slam the doors closed once again.

"This is ridiculous!!" Allura cursed angrily, standing against the door; as if to hold it closed. "Now Pidge is down, and we're the only ones left to stop this!"

"Take it easy Allura, we'll figure this out." Keith soothed, gesturing for her to calm down. "We just have to think."

"What can you possibly think _we_ can do to stop this?" Allura protested hopelessly, turning to face him. "Neither of us are knowledgeable enough to do anything."

"I'm saying, that if we can at least catch that thing, we can stop it from spraying us." Keith told her calmly. "Then we can worry about how to help the others."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" The Princess returned unsurely.

_XXXX_

The doors slipped open, the chipmunk creature froze in the doorway sniffing the air. It switched and scurried about in the doorway, seeming to be wondering if it should enter. Keith appeared seemingly from nowhere and plunged a glass container over the creature. The chipmunk darted into the glass several times, as if trying to understand why it couldn't run away. A platform slid under the creature, trapping it underneath.

"Got it." Keith said. He went to stand up with it in hand, but it hopped up to nip his hand and pulled its head up out of the top of the container. Whipping it's tail up the green substance reached his face, and he began to cough violently.

"No!!" Allura cried. Keith stumbled back and fell, the creature used this backward momentum to launch itself at her. Allura stared as it seemed to fly in slow motion, flipping through the air and finishing with launching that all-too-familiar cloud; which she began to shield her face from. Unfortunately the cloud got her nonetheless and she flailed her hands at the creature's touch. She stepped back into a wall and fell forward. She recovered from the coughing spell on all fours, then shifted back; dropping her hands into her lap. The world around her went dark and she looked up as though something were there. Suddenly, a large version her father, looking exactly how she'd last seen him, stood before her with yellow colored eyes.

"How could you have let this happen, daughter." He said in a cold disappointed tone. "What have you done to bring such primitive lifeforms to pilot the lions."

"But- father, I-"

"DONT MAKE EXCUSES FOR DESECRATING OUR ALTEAN TRADITION!!" Alfor thundered savagely. Allura withdrew, holding her arms over her face, as if bracing for a blow to be delivered.

"Please Father! Don't do this!" She begged, already close to tears. "I can't do this alone! Please help me!!"

"Why must I?" The former Atlean ruler returned icily, turning a shoulder to her. "You have already doomed yourself." He turned and began walking away.

"No! Father, please!! Don't go!!!" The Princess begged, reaching a hand out and she leaning forward to stumble after him. The king continued to walk away as a light began to build in front of him; allowing him entry into it. That light soon became too bright and she had to shield her eyes again..

_XXXX_

Keith gasped as he tensely stepped around in the darkness around him.

"Shiro?! Lance!!... Allura!!" He called. He continued to turned round; hoping to find anything that resembled something of comforting value. To his disappointment, darkness remained the only sight to see here.

"Hello Keith." The Red Paladin whipped around, only to see Shiro standing there in the same stance he had been when he _supposedly_ turned on him. His eyes, though, were glowing yellow not an off purple like they had before. A cold, stoic expression showed across his face.

"Shiro, please, don't do this to me again." Keith begged stepping back as Shiro slowly advanced toward him. "I don't wanna fight you."

"Who said we had to?" Another voice, which he was terrified to learn belonged to Lance, as the Blue Paladin came out from behind Shiro. The tone of his voice seemed off as well, and his face just as off as Shiro's.

"We only want something.. only _you_ can give us." A zombified Pidge said, in a one note tone, somehow appearing right behind Keith making him nearly jump out of his skin. He stepped back to come into contact with something, and turned around to be faced with...

"You have the ability to bring us to a state of power no one could ever take away from us." Hunk's yellow, pupil-less eyes bore into his very soul like two burning sunspots. Keith's eyes widened as he drew back.

"Join us, Keith." Allura urged appearing next to Lance. "So you can lead us to our destinies."

"Destiny?" Keith felt only confusion. "No. No, this isn't right." He refused strongly. "You guys already _know_ your destinies, we're the Paladins of Voltron; Defenders of the Universe." Hunk stepped away from Keith, and Lance, who'd had his hand on Shiro's shoulder, tapped the Black Paladin's back twice and, as if like a robot, he attacked!

_XXXX_

Krolia sliced through the darkness. Keith's baby giggles rang out around her and then the laugh of another slowly faded in to drown it out.

"No! It can't be!!" She gasped, her eyes wide in horrific panic.

_XXXX_

"Bandor!!!!! Patrulious!!! Help me!!!!!" Romelle bawled, clutching her biceps desperately. She bawled some more, as more tears flooded down her cheeks and an evil version of Lotor appeared, laughing down on her from all sides.

_XXXX_

"No! Please!! Allura stop!! I didn't mean it that way!! Please!!" Lance screamed, covering his ears in attempt to block out the noise. Though it seemed to make no difference; as though he was hearing it in his head, to which he could not rid himself of the Princess's loath-ful tone. "No.. please.. STOP!" Lance begged, clenching his eyes closed, close to tears by this point.

_XXXX_

Shiro stepped forward to punch at Zarkon, but was stunned to hit nothing. He whipped around as Haggar materialized and shot him with her magic; only to be blindsided by Sendak's claw.

"You'll never get away with bringing more of the destruction you've already done to the universe!!" Shiro spat.

_XXXX_

"Ahh! Hah ahh! Spiders! Ah! -g..get away!!" Pidge cried, curling up into a ball where she was. The eight-legged creatures of unusual size and demeanor scuttled closer to her. The horrible tingly feeling on her skin, simulated the stickly feet of the creatures which invaded her field vision. "No! Go away... GO AWAY!!!!" She screamed crossing her arms in front of her face, clenching her eyes closed.

"Katie." Pidge's eyes shot open at this... and suddenly the tingling died away. In the distance was the glowing figure of...

"Dad?" The confusion in her tone was heightened by burning eyes.

"How could this be my own daughter." Sam snarled, a angry scowl on his face.

"What?! But- you said that-"

"Choosing to stay away, and for what?! To prove you are something you're not?" Sam interrupted her sternly.

"What?! But- I-?"

"You're _not_ the supposed _savior_ you think you are!" Sam thundered furiously. "You're just a little girl. You don't belong as a pilot, much less a _Paladin of Voltron_."

"That's not true!" Pidge screamed. "Dad, please, this isn't you!"

"Well if you won't listen to me..." Sam answered coldly. "Then you've chosen to be alone." Sam turned to walk away and Pidge got up to race after him desperately.

"Dad!! Please.. DON'T GO!!!!!!" Her voice cracked dry, as she screamed at the top of her lungs after her father; who strode on unimpeded...

_XXXX_

"Ahh, ooh wa-ohh..man, hah oh, wa..hh!" Hunk stumbled about the room, which spun in a disorienting fashion. He reached out to catch himself, but barely missed crate next to him and his hand slipped, causing him to stumble some more. "Ohh man, make it stop." He cringed and covered his mouth hoping to prevent himself from vomiting, as the dizziness continued. The thought regurgitating only egged the feeling on. He clenched his eyes closed in hopes of stopping the feeling; but could still feel that lightness around him.

_XXXX_

"You have failed me, old friend." Alfor sighed, a disappointed resentment in his tone.

"Please, Alfor, I did what any loyal Altean would have done." Coran begged. "I did what you told me, but now we may have a chance with the new Paladins.-"

"You think that those outsiders, are Paladins?" Alfor questioned, sharply looking up at him. "What misery have you suffered to chose such feeble amongst many better than they."

"Alfor, please, they are not as you say." The royal advisor returned innocently. "They are Paladins; they have proven they are worthy. You know that the lions wouldn't choose just _anyone_. You said it yourself... once..many deca-pheobs ago."

"You dishonor me with such ignorance. And yet you have allowed my own daughter to fall to such pestilence." Alfor returned coldly, turning a shoulder to him.

"I think not!" Coran gasped. "Allura made the choice per your encouragement to make one. I've nothing to do with any choices made here."

"BUT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HER!!" Alfor thundered savagely. "You have failed me in letting these pathetic creatures to pilot the lions. And thus... have poisoned our legacy!!"

"No! I didn't! I didn't!" Coran denied, dropping to his knees; bowing before his king with his face to the ground. "Please, mercify me!! Please!!! I haven't done anything of desecration to your creations! The choice was not my own."

"So you say, yet you go along with it as if it were." Alfor snapped, keeping his shoulder pointed to him. He stepped away and stopped to look back once more. "You're not worth my time..." Then, finishing his statement, walked away with out another word. Coran sat there sobbing where he was; as he was now left alone.

**Just two more chapters remain after this!! Only two more weeks til the end and the it'll be finished! Hope you guys are still enjoying this story! And thx to those who are!! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this one once again! Enjoy!! Thx!!!**


	6. Push Through!

Chapter six: Push Through!

Shiro's strangely restored Galra hand sliced at Keith's head and he dodged it just in time, before it could get him. The attacks kept coming, Shiro's eyes blazed purple the same way they had when he'd fought him before, the uncharacteristic look of pure, spiteful rage and coldness leaked from them by the bucketload. Shiro didn't look like Shiro anymore, he wasn't the man he once knew; again. And once again, he was his enemy. Shiro and Keith locked blades; sparks scattering between them, their eyes fixed on one another. And the rest of the team, still acting just as strange, stood around them watching the battle go on. Keith threw Shiro off of him. And managed to shove hard enough, with a mighty, roaring yell, to send him tumbling back; yet he landed on his feet again.

"Shiro, please! Don't do this! You're my brother, I don't wanna hurt you!!!"

"Too late for that." Shiro sneered coldly; swinging his blade to his side, then lunging at him again. Keith watched Shiro plunging toward him, a realization coming to mind. Standing there directly facing the older man, he closed his eyes... and waited. Footsteps thundering closer... heavy breathing reaching his ears... the whip of the blade through air...

Shiro let out a battle cry to seemingly swing down for the final blow; when it was suddenly halted. Shiro's face went blank and a horrible slice rang out, practically echoing around the entire place. Shiro groaned and looked down discover the black and white blade that had pierced right through his torso; his breaths quickening as the life drained from his eyes and he grabbed the blade in an attempt to escape. Shiro heavily dropped to his knees to now be eye-level with the tearful bluish-grey eyes of the one he'd been attacking.

"Keith...-" Shiro gasped, his breaths shaky and his hands trembling. "What have you done?!..." Shiro went limp on all fours. Keith attempted a losing battle of stopping the tears already flooding down his face; clenching his eyes closed he too gasped for air. Then, opening them once more, he finalized the blow with another cry, as he jammed the sword further through Shiro's body as he burst into an explosion of light. When the light had died, all that remained was a misshapen form of Shiro's body lying face down before him. Keith dropped his blade, which reverted back to his bayard, at his side as he dropped to his knees; hanging his head as he began to sob. He sobbed and sobbed and sobbed, until he feared he couldn't breathe.

"Keith." The echo of Shiro's calm voice rang back to him, like a distant memory returning from a faraway place. Keith look up his eyes wide, as tears still escaped from them. From Shiro's dead body rose up a purplish light, which soon became the version of Shiro he'd found in the Black Lion's consciousness.

"S..Shiro?!" Keith cried, begging for it to be him.

"I'm here." Shiro told him gently. "But I need you... we _all_ do." Echoes of his friend cries rang out around him; like they were near by but the sound was distant. "Only _you_ can save us." The chipmunk creature appeared a short distance from them, chattering and scurrying about its business; seemingly unaware of his presence. Keith stared at it from the distance he was, just beyond Shiro(with his deceased double still at his feet); and watched it continue to ignore his presence. After a moment his hand lowered to summon his bayard to it, and he rose from where he was. The creature looked up when it felt a shadow being cast over it; but before it could run, a sharp tip stabbed right through it into the ground. The creature let out a terrified screech and frantically tried to escape; but eventually went silent. Keith felt a weight be lifted off him, like a breath of fresh air.

"Now what?" He said, looking to where Shiro had been standing, but found nothing but empty space. "Shiro?" He saw nothing but empty space in front of him, then snapped his head to the left. "Guys! We gotta figure out how to stop this!" He told the others.

"Wha-What d-do you have in mind?" Pidge stammered, gripping her arms tighter around her knees; flinching at any spiders she was seeing.

"-Maybe that- creature- has the answers." Keith suggested.

"Ohh, man.." Hunk moaned, steadying himself against the wall with one hand; and holding his stomach with the other. "I don't think I could think straight long enough to figure it out, let alone mix up a cure for this." He recoiled once more, in a desperate attempt to keep from vomiting again.

"-We've gotta try- something." Keith decided. "Shiro's-.. getting worse!" The team could see the Black Paladin practically cowering in the corner, nearly shut down from the rest of reality itself.

"Ugh, we're- all getting- worse." Lance groaned through his panicked breaths.

"Pidge- think..." Keith encouraged, glancing at the Green Paladin. "Is there- anything- we can use- to cure us?"

"-there- might be." Pidge groaned, swinging through yet another spider; shattering the manifestations only she could see. "I could- use the creature's blood to- huah!- find a cure for this." She said this while smashing through another manifestation.

"Do it!" Keith decided. Crawling across the floor she reached Keith and took up the dead creature's body. Lance muscled through his delusion to bring her a containment unit.

"Ok- I can check- this out and- be back with a cure.-" Pidge told the group.

"Great- but- woah-no!" Hunk fought the urge to vomit once more; his cheeks puffing up, as he held his hands over his mouth desperately. "What'll- we do, til- you- get back. Ulgh."

"Keep an eye on the others. I'll- go with Pidge." Keith told them. Shiro let out a cry off agony, dropping to his knees and holding his arm above where it was severed. "And- keep an eye on Shiro... he's- clearly.. -getting worse."

"You- got it." Lance groaned, looking up at him from where he sat next to Romelle, attempting to comfort her.

"Let's go,- Pidge." Keith called, as he stumbled out of the Black Lion. The Green Paladin, container in hand, staggered after him, to the Green Lion.

_XXXX_

"Ok- what, do we need- to do?" Keith asked, fighting to ignore the manifestations popping up around him.

"I-.. just need-.. a few minutes." Pidge replied, stiffly, brushing at the air again. Keith stood there gazing about nervously, worrying about the terror that would possibly come to consume him in its perilous grasp.

_XXXX_

Minutes felt like hours as Pidge worked, Keith struggled to stay with it; _for Shiro!_ he told himself determinedly.

"I've got it!!" Pidge cried. Keith looked to her, as she stood up with a small vile of green liquid. "Let's- get back to the team." Keith nodded and they retreated back out the door.

_XXXX_

Pidge and Keith were shocked with what they returned to. Both of them freezing in the doorway, as soon as they saw what lay waiting to meet them.

Shiro lay flat on the floor with Allura, Lance, Krolia, and Coran standing over him. They all looked back when hearing noise and were relieved to see them.

"Thank goodness you're back!" Lance cried. "Shiro's getting worse."

"What happened?!" Keith asked slowly stumbling to his knees next Lance and Shiro. The Black Paladin lay on his back, grunting disorientingly; his face twitching in a painful cringe. Eyebrows furrowed and eyes clenched closed, he seemed completely unaware of the outside world.

"We- don't know.-" Lance told him simply. "He- just started acting like this."

"Quick! Give the treatment to Shiro first." Keith cried, gesturing to Pidge. The Green Paladin quickly set to work, her fingers almost moving at the speed of light; as she fiddled with the needle and syringe, and the vile with them. Measuring out the correct amount, she abruptly plunged the needle into Shiro's left bicep; and everyone stepped back as she stood up. They all stood there watching... waiting... hoping to see some form of change occur. Keith was in his own head, silently panicking;.. fearing that is wasn't working. All he could do was stare at Shiro, his still face being the only focus for the panicked Paladin. The Black Paladin's face was still for what seemed like hours... until it wasn't.. Shiro suddenly jerked up and with a horribly Galra looking face! Like he'd become some sort of demon.

"Ahhgh!!" Keith cried, jumping back. Pulling one knee up and turning on his other foot, he hit the ground on his stomach; getting up to run out of the Lion in pure terror.

"Keith!!" Pidge cried, scrambling after him. The others followed immediately, feeling afraid of their leader leaving them. And, seeing something terrifying themselves, ran scared for that reason as well.

"Wait!! Don't leave me here alone!!!" Romelle screamed, seeing her brother and the rest of her Altean friends running away from her. Now Shiro was the only one to remain... in deafening silence...

_XXXX_

Keith finally stopped running when he was out in the open; grabbing his head intensely. The team gasped for breath, as they caught up to him.

"*gasping breath* Keith-... we.. have.. -to stay.. together!.." Pidge breathed, nearly choking on her own breath. Keith dropped to one knee, still clutching his head; attempting to block out the agonizing noise of Shiro's evil laugh, and the intenseness of it from when he fought the clone. Hunk couldn't not fight it any longer. His helmet changed just in time for him to vomit all over the ground, and then shielded his face once he'd finished.

"Ohh, man.. do you guys.. feel that?" Hunk asked, kneeling on all fours. The team soon realized that the ground was shaking(more like vibrating).

"What is-...suAHHHH!!!" Lance screamed as giant objects shot up from the ground. These objects being long and tree trunk-colored; flying rocks forced them to scatter, as more showed up. Recovering from the sudden intrusion, they looked up to see what had so rudely interrupted what they were doing. A rounded head with small black eyes stood over them; five of them all around them. They looked curious enough to be gentle, yet the team wondered if they really were.

"What the heck are _those_ things?!" Lance wondered aloud, his voice quickening as he spoke. As if in response to this statement; the creature's head split three ways in a snarling roar, that ignited bolts of blue electricity up and down its long eel-like body! They all screamed in horror at this sight.

"Lance!! Now you made it mad!!" Hunk cried in distress.

"Look out!!" Pidge screamed, pointing up at the creature, as it's shadow came hurtling toward them. They all looked up with wide eyes and immediately scattered in every direction; as the creature landed with a CRASH!! onto the ground they had just been standing on...

**Hey guys!! Just one more chapter before the end! Hope you guys have enjoyed this story, and thank you all sooo much for the awesome comments and critiques!! I am so blessed to have such amazing followers of my stories! And I can't wait til you read the final chapter next week! Enjoy!! Thx!!!**


	7. Overcoming Obstacles!

Chapter seven: Overcoming Obstacles!

Shiro's eyes slowly blinked open as he began to push himself up. He pulled his elbows up to brace himself upright, as he rolled onto his knees. Now on all fours, he let his head hang a little. A heaviness lay over him(heavier than gravity that is), his head a little woozy; as he tried to recount what had happened. He suddenly looked up, when he registered the various sounds of voices coming from the cockpit. The doors were open and the cockpit was empty, no sign of Keith anywhere, and the Lion was clearly not moving. So Shiro picked himself up off the floor to walk into the cockpit. And what he saw on the screen, made his heart leap. The team were being attacked by these giant, electric eel creatures; and they were clearly losing against them.

"Oh no." Shiro breathed, he quickly sat down and took the left handle. Only realizing a moment later, that his other arm could no longer grasp the other handle. At this, Shiro got an unfamiliar feeling of helplessness; which, to a point, scared him a bit. But then a gentle growl arrived to comfort him, and the screens began to lighten. Shiro drew in a surprised breath, as though he'd suddenly been touched by something cold. Something was clearly happening to him... and the origin came from his right side. The growl whispered in his ear again, and he looked down. And starting from his shoulder... a purplish-pink light in the form of little lines traced out the metal plating; and down the empty space where his arm _should_ be. He watched in amazement as the lines continued until they had traced out his entire arm; glowing in the same way his former extremity once did. And with a rush of energy... _he could feel again?!?!_

_XXXX_

Keith hit the ground hard; Shiro's hands gripping his shoulders, as he remained on top of him in a plank-style position.

"Shiro!! Please!! I don't want this!! Stop!!" Keith begged.

"You can't decide that now!!" Shiro snarled back, his purplish glowing eyes flaring. "You brought this upon yourself!!" Shiro plunged his Galra hand down to run him through, but Keith managed to free himself enough to roll out of the way; as a giant tail came down on Shiro. Keith, now in a one-legged kneel, he looked over to where he'd once been; but had to look up and dive away, as another tail attempted to smash him into the ground. A giant head shot up from the ground, it's lips peeling away to swallow him whole; when a laser blast cut it off and burned it in the head with a painful roar! The Black Lion flew through and blasted more of the eel creatures with its laser mouth; sending them retreating in screeching cries of pain and agony.

"Team get to safety!!" Shiro called to them.

"Shiro?!" Lance cried, dumbfounded by this anomaly.

"The- you're piloting the Black Lion?!" Pidge gasped in disbelief.

"But-... how can he pilot.. with only one arm?!" Hunk wondered.

"We can't worry about that now." Shiro told them. "Right now we've just gotta get out of here!! Head to your lions!" The team nodded to each other, and scattered to the remaining lions. The Black Lion continued its assault on the creatures, until all four lions took to the skies once more; then took off himself. Finding another place to land on a gassy planet a short time later, the team fought through their hallucinations to make their way to the Black Lion once more.

The entered to find a staggering sight, one which they would've sworn wasn't real without having seen it with their own eyes. Shiro's right side glowed with the energy hand that materialized in the, otherwise, empty space at his side. The team drew closer, Keith set a hand on his shoulder and he looked up; as if coming out of a daze. He lifted his hand off the handle and it vanished into thin air once more; leaving behind the metal stub once again.

"How... how did you do that?" Lance asked, still in awe of the situation.

"I..I'm not sure." Shiro breathed, seeming just as amazed by this.

"Well however you did it.." Keith began sincerely. "..It saved us."

"Ok; now let's get everyone cured." Pidge decided, holding the vile and a container of spare needles in her hands.

_XXXX_

Everyone sat along the wall, around the Black Lion's cockpit. Pidge had gone around to administer the cure for each one of them before injecting it into herself. The Green Paladin had insisted they all sit for a while, to allow the antidote to circulate through and stop the infection. Having finished with herself, she strode over to the wall next to Lance. Turning to press her back to it, she slid down it to the ground to relax a bit herself.

"Man,... I'm glad that's over." Lance breathed, leaning his head back against the wall.

"Aren't we all." Pidge sighed. Keith turned to look at Shiro. He still looked haunted, the look in his eyes distant; like he were somewhere else, other than here.

"Shiro?" The Red Paladin addressed him gently.

"Hm?" Shiro looked up at him.

"You ok?" Keith's eyes searched his.

"Yeah..I-.." Shiro tensed and grabbed the empty air, where his arm right should be. Keith drew closer.

"What's wrong?" He asked, kneeling in front of him to inspect his hand's strange action. Shiro constricted his hand into a fist in frustration, a reluctant sigh soon following it.

"Nothing." He said quietly. Pidge arrived at his side as well.

"Shiro.." she ventured, shifting herself from a one-legged kneel to sitting with her legs tucked under her, as she spoke. "..is it possible that you're experiencing Phantom Limb Syndrome?"

"Phantom..what?" Lance asked, having clearly never heard of such a thing. Pidge turned her head to peer at him through the corner of her eye.

"It's a syndrome for amputees like Shiro." She explained simply. "The syndrome basically tricks their brain into thinking they're feeling pain in their lost limb or seeing it, when, in reality, it's not there anymore."

"I.. guess it..could be possible." Shiro thought earnestly. Keith lightened up at this, and began searching around for something; Shiro and the team just watched him for a moment. Keith eventfully found what he was searching for;... an old pocket knife. Unsheathing its blunt blade, he gently ran his fingers over it.

"Uh...what are you do...OING!!" Lance screamed, panicking as Keith took the knife and jammed it into the metal plating at the base of Shiro's stub. The former Black Paladin was surprise; as was everyone else... but after staring at it for some time; he realized the pain he felt was.. _diminishing?! _Lance, Hunk and Romelle stared dumbfounded, their mouths agape in pure shock. Everyone else either wore a wide-eyed look, or a calm one(which only really accounted for Keith).

"Keith! What did you do that for?!" Allura gasped in horror.

"Actually, he did the right thing." Pidge defended simply. "Shiro's experiencing pain that doesn't exist. Hence the_ "Phantom" _part of the name. By stabbing him with the knife, it can retrain his brain not to register pain to that limb; because it no longer exists." Shiro still stared at it, his eyes glued to the weapon no sticking out of his arm. He noticed, now, that it didn't even hurt when Keith had plunged it into the metal. Finaly he looked up at Keith. A bit of shock in his eyes, as they softened into a relieved smile.

"Thank you." He said, feeling, noticeably, a lot better.

"My pleasure." Keith smiled, setting a hand on his shoulder gently. "We'll leave it in there like that until Shiro's not feeling that pain anymore." He continued, looking around at the team. "The knife in his arm will help him to not feel the effects of the syndrome, and stop it for good."

"So... what just.. happened?" Hunk asked openly.

"Apparently that creature was only cute for one reason." Allura spoke up. "To get us to trust it, so it could drive us to insanity with our own worst fears."

"And it all started with Shiro on that planet where we found it." Keith stated aloud. "That must have been what he saw in the cave before he was infected."

"And probably why he collapsed a short while after being sprayed." Pidge guessed. "It was a reaction to the poison."

"But then why didn't we all get that way?" Lance asked. "We all got sprayed."

"I think it might be because we were sitting or laying down when it sprayed us; versus Shiro standing up." Pidge's hypothesized.

"But neither me, nor Coran were laying down or sitting." Krolia put in thoughtfully. "We were standing just has he was."

"Allura and I were too." Keith pointed out.

"Did you wake up on the ground afterward?" Pidge asked.

"Come to think of it no..." Krolia thought. "But we did experience the hallucinations near immediately."

"Shiro seemed to see things in a slow progression." Keith thought, dropping this eyes to the floor, then turning to look at Shiro.

"That's probably because Shiro didn't realize he was infected and therefore didn't think anything of it." Pidge explained. "He didn't have a reason to think something was wrong... the rest of us probably started to see things sooner after being sprayed, due the adrenaline from worrying about Shiro. And the fact that each of us were starting to act just like him, one by one."

"So the more everyone else started to act strange, the more stressful the situation.." Keith thought aloud.

"And the less time it took for us to start experiencing the effects of the toxin." Pidge finished. "It's all affected by adrenaline."

"So that's how we all started to go crazy so fast." Lance realized.

"Great, so now that that's all sorted out,.. what do we do now?" Hunk asked the group.

"We keeping working on getting to earth." Allura decided. "We still have a long ways to go, before we get there."

"Allura's right." Shiro concurred looking up again. "We still have a lot of ground to cover in order to get back to earth. We need to keep on the same heading, until we get there. Our plan of replacing the Castle of Lions is still our top priority. And we need to keep it that way until we have it to start our battle with the Galra once more. We've lost a lot of ground in the last three years, while we were gone. But once we get back to earth, it shouldn't be too hard to pick things up with all the thing Sam as hopefully achieved since _his_ return to earth."

"Then I guess we better get going." Keith decided finally.

"So who's going where now?" Lance asked, looking up at them once more.

"Well I'm keeping Shiro." Pidge decided firmly. "He's the easiest passenger."

"As long as he doesn't collapse on you again." Lance replied sarcastically. Dropping the serious face, he chuckled; the team sharing the light laughter for a second.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about that." Shiro smiled.

"Good, cause we can't afford too many more set backs." Allura replied simply. "Or we'll never get back to earth."

"I agree." Shiro returned with a shrug. "We need to stay focused on the task at hand."

"Coran and Romelle can stay with me." The Princess stated.

"And Krolia's staying with me." Keith said.

"Hey Keith, can I have the wolf this time?" Hunk asked eagerly. "I've been wanting to spend a little time with that little guy."

"I don't know. What'do you think, buddy?" Keith asked, looking to the wolf thoughtfully. The wolf blinked at him with inquisitive eyes, then teleporting itself next to Hunk; to sniff his hand. "I guess so." Keith told Hunk, shrugging.

"Well then... let's hit the Space Road!!..." Lance declared. "..again." He followed up a second later. Then with that the team split to their lions and took off on their space road... The Space Road Less Traveled.

~Space Road Less Traveled~

**Well there you have it! The final chapter. Thank you sooooooo much for reading this story. And I'm soo incredibly thankful that it has been enjoyable for you all. Love all the amazing comments for all of you and I can't wait to see what you think of this last chapter. And any other stories I may have in the future. **

**Also I have started editing on my stories to make any necessary edits to make them better. But rest assured that no major plot points will be changed. The goal of the editing is to set right most of the typing issues and incorrect spellings or any other minor edits that need to be addressed. This story will likely not be one of the edits because I have already made said edits already. But many of my others stories(likely not including my most recent ones) will be in re-editing. Currently I have finished the re-edit for Call Of The White Lion, and the first two chapters of Shades Of Black. So I have a lot to go before I'm finished. Anyway, enjoy this final chapter and I will see next time! Thx!!!**


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